Oprah will be interviewing Tom Cruise in his Telluride home on
tomorrow’s Oprah Show. It is a rerun from last May, but if you didn’t
see it then, check out at least the first 10 minutes of the show. It
is so exciting, Tom Cruise is showing cute ladybug shoes from my
friend Katja’s store Skimbaco.com on Oprah!

Katja is one of the Walmart’s Eleven Moms with me and she
sent the Monkey-Toes ladybug shoes for Suri last Christmas.

I asked her a few questions about this exciting moment on Oprah, and here’s what she had to say!

MBR: What made you decide to open Skimbaco.com? What was your influence?

KP: I opened Skimbaco.com in february 2006. I have been a stay at home mom since my oldest one was born, she is almost nine now, and I had been helping moms to find unique products for their children for a few years before that, and wanted to continue the same but now just in a larger scale. I also wanted to help all the mompreneurs and small businesses to get their
products known. My mission from day one have been to spread sunshine,
make children happy by offering cool products, but also make moms
happy knowing that they are not just purchasing great products, they
are also supporting small business owners, mainly mompreneurs, by
doing it.

MBR: What does Skimbaco mean?

KP: Skimbaco is a word I made up. I wanted to learn more about branding
and wanted to have a name with zero google results the day I started.
Skimbaco means “skiing in Colorado”, “skimba” is a Finnish slang word
for skiing and “co” is for Colorado. When I started the company, we
lived in Colorado, and skiing is what we are as a family are
passionate about. But as you know, my products have nothing to do with
skiing – and Skimbaco’s deeper meaning really is “enjoy life, do what
you love to do, live life to the fullest”. Skiing in Colorado is just
one thing I am passionate about, and the “Skimbaco Lifestyle” is
enjoying life whether it’s skiing in Colorado or shopping in New York
City, enjoying life one day at the time. And as my company’s mission
says, I want to encourage people not just to enjoy life, but also
spread sunshine and pay it forward as they do.

MBR: How did you get to send Tom/Katie/Suri the gift basket?

KP: They say we have a six degree separation to everyone, but I am lucky
enough to have a two degree separation to Tom Cruise, we have a mutual
friend. My friend wanted to gift Tom Cruise and his family during the
Holidays and I helped him to put together a gift basket of beautiful
products from my store. DeAnna Cochran made some custom jewelry for Tom
Cruise’s entire family and I also included some fun stuff like
personalized underwear for Tom and Katie from Blume Girl. One of the products in the basket was the cutest little pair of ladybug
shoes, which are the Little Ladies Mary Janes by Monkey-Toes.

MBR: If you could have another item featured on the Oprah show what would it be and why?

KP: I would say it’s one of my exclusive necklaces by DeAnna Cochran, because
part of the proceeds go for charities and I am passionate about
helping people. Oprah actually inspired me to ask DeAnna to design a
Ladybug necklace after the Tom Cruise interview. I felt really blessed
about the feature and since the product was ladybug shoes, and
ladybugs are believed to bring luck in many cultures, I wanted to pay
my ladybug luck forward. I suddenly was receiving a lot of press and
people were noticing me and I asked myself what would Oprah do – and
she would pay it forward. So that’s what I wanted to do too. I started
Ladybug Landings – offering PR help for other mompreneurs and
bloggers, and it has kept me busy ever since. The proceeds of my
Ladybug Necklace and ladybug gear make it possible
that I’m able to help others also for free. I offer PR and social
media consulting and the first hour is always free.

Thanks Katja!! Congrats on the exciting “appearance” on Oprah!!! We wish you the best of luck, and can’t wait to see what else Skimbaco & Ladybug Landings have in store for us!

PS. You can see some of the other products that were included in the gift basket to Tom, Katie & Suri!

 

UPDATED: A fellow Mommy Blogger, Kristin, from An Ordinary Life taught me something I didn’t know about Katja… She’s allowing me to copy this bit from her blog:

 Last year she wrote about the passing of her family dog, it was an emotional post for us all. Her wish this year is to give her children a new family pet (adopted of course) so lets all grant one families Christmas wish! Let’s all donate $5 for Katja’s family dream of owning a dog.

Just use the donation button and give your $5 now. The funds will go straight to her. I would love to gather half the cash for her pet fees. (She lives in N.Y. people it’s super expensive)